OK. Here I go sticking my kneck out again doing something I have no clue will work. This is from the HW "Old #3" casting. This at its best is going to be ugly. The WASP wasn't really something you'd stand around and say OOoooo..Ahhhhhh at....Unless you lived in 1911. Then it was state of the art. It was the only car in that first race to only have one seat. All the rest carried a mechanic. Marmon opted to remove the mechanic seat and weight and in their stead substitute a rear view mirror. It was the first race car to have a rear view mirror. It is STILL the ONLY car to race at Indy that came from 28th place to win!

The front of "Old #3" looks quite a bit like the Wasp. There will have to be some modification to the hood but that shouldn't be that tough. The tail section is a little bit more of a challenge. The car was seperated from the chassis. Then using a jeweler's saw I cut the tank from the rear. I could have used a cutting wheel but figured that tank may come in handy sometime. I made a paper template from a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup card board. I love those things. I then cut that out and transferred the pattern to a piece of 40 guage copper tooling foil. This was then cut and formed and tacked glued together with Krazy Glue. Then I filled the tail section with J&B KWIK for support so I could work the copper without it collapsing. From that point hopefully its a matter of making it fit. More as I Get'R Done.

It's something I'd stand around and oooh and aahh at.

Cheers. This is looking great already.

Yeah. Me too. But then I'm starting to be considered.....Old. :cool: At least by the....Young. :thumbsup:

Are you going to use the old MB spoke wheels?

No. This thing has solid steel wheels. I'm seriously considering using thumb tacks and O rings and building them from scratch. I can't get the original pic to post of the Wasp at INDY. You've probably seen it. It's got to be one of the most famous photos of all time. Probably THE MOST famous photo in racing history. But I've been looking at it all my life. It looks like the tires are white balloon tires. The display at the museum has black tires on it, as does the Hobby Horse 1/43 model. I know the B&W film back then didn't register certain color well. Yellows were dark. But I'd think black would have shown up black. I'm going to have to do some research and ask some questions before I decide what type of tires will go on it.

No. This thing has solid steel wheels. I'm seriously considering using thumb tacks and O rings and building them from scratch. I can't get the original pic to post of the Wasp at INDY. You've probably seen it. It's got to be one of the most famous photos of all time. Probably THE MOST famous photo in racing history. But I've been looking at it all my life. It looks like the tires are white balloon tires. The display at the museum has black tires on it, as does the Hobby Horse 1/43 model. I know the B&W film back then didn't register certain color well. Yellows were dark. But I'd think black would have shown up black. I'm going to have to do some research and ask some questions before I decide what type of tires will go on it.
There is some wheels you might be interisted on the Myers Manx that HW is selling in their premimum line. They are a solid disk. Hope it helps.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/96307/PFOPQ-marmonwasp.jpg

Hey Mac! Thanks for putting that up. Y'all can see what I'm talking about the "color shift." If that original car was yellow you'd think it would have shown up as a lighter shade of gray. I recall someone saying this color shift stayed with film up until and during the early parts of WWII. Something about the speed of the car caused the visual distortion. Maybe someone that knows more than me could elaborate. Also you can see my concern about tyre color. They sure don't look black. And they don't have "Firestone" written on them. Haven't had a reply back from the IMSM. After all these years, I still think that's one cool photograph.

look like white wall tires. but then again you need to know what type track it was. salt flats would make the tire look like that. just a guess :wave:

Red brick. The whole track was laid in it.I suppose it could be red, brick, dust, build-up. It does look like a saltflat build-up. Looking at the museum car and the B&W image, the surround on the numerals 32 are supposed to be red. They do appear white in the B&W photo. This same color shift could be present on the tyres causing them to look white. :cool: Once I find out if it is brick dust that would be neat to dust the tyres with some to make the car look like it just rolled off the track. :thumbsup:

Got a chance to do a little something tonight during commercials, during the Panthers game. They don't call 'em the Cardiac Cats for nothin'. Win or lose I've yet to see a game that didn't keep me on the edge of my seat.

What got accomplished tonight was I removed the casted hood strap as well as the break drums from the chassis. I also opened up the leaf springs. I left the axle tabs front and rear. I stripped the car with Kleen-Strip. The vent tube was attached to the tail piece. I think the natural metal looks pretty cool. The whole thing was then primered with Krylon and baked at 400F for 1 minute. I got a little antsy about the copper heating too much. It didn't want to take the primer as well as the casting. I built it up letting each coat dry. Hopefully the color won't react the same. Will probably put this on the back burner a couple of days in hopes of finding more out about the tyres. I've still got to work on the cockpit and seat as well as the hood. I've got an idea of how to make the hood open. It would take another car or two. If it worked I'd need some kind of engine. I've yet to see a photo of that.

Lookin' good!

Couldn't sleep last night so I worked on the "bonnet" side flaps. Cut the three exhaust (actually I cut 8 but 5 are on the floor somewhere) stacks and hand drilled the exhaust side bonnet flap to accept the pipes. The other flap was pretty straight forward other than notching out the place for the Pitman arm to go. Both are of the 40 guage copper tooling foil. I may try to use an old piece of wallet leather for the seat. Now it a matter of finding out about the wheels.

Peekin' in!

Should finish it this weekend. "Peek" back later.

Since I couldn't find anything acceptable in the line of Marmon Wasp wheels; I decided to make some. I used upholstery tacs for the solid wheel. I left one with the nail another I broke the nail off. That one I drilled a hole and slipped it over the one with the nail. Krazy glued the two halves together. The assembly was painted yellow. I then cut a very small end from the 3/32 aluminum tube. This was Krazy Glue'd to the center of the outer wheel half. Black paint was used for the tyre keepers around the outside edge of the wheel. Tyres are a #9 O-ring. The wheel assemblies were then Krazy Glue'd to the chassis. No it doesn't roll

Hey, you's a bad man! It don't need to roll, kinda like a pretty woman that isn't too smart, you want her to just stand around and look good but don't talk, your automotive art doesn't have to roll, just stand there and look good :)

Looking forward to the end results!

Looks great. Details like that can hurt the brain!!! Nice work.

Only if you have one. :freak: